This disclosure relates generally to the field of control systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for controlling an unmanned vehicle.
Battlespace environments have evolved over the years and are becoming increasing complex to both manned and unmanned systems. In the immediate future, enemies may seek to deny access to force entry by using advanced integrated air defense systems (IADS) that employ mobile, long-range, surface-to-air missile systems that are networked with advanced early warning radar capability and command and control (C2). Such airborne intercept capability will include advanced radars, infrared-search-and-track sensors, and advanced air-to-air missiles. In their most robust form, these IADS will consist of sensors with overlapping coverage, cross-cue capability, and fiber-based networks to enable near radio frequency (RF)-silent operation. Future enemies may also seek to develop technology and tactics to negate stealth technology.
Traditional Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are remotely piloted or execute a preplanned route plan. They have limited capability to respond to a dynamic battlespace environment without direct human intervention to replan and transmit new instructions to the UAS. Traditional UAS also have limited capability to collaborate with other maimed or unmanned aircraft without human intervention. These limitations make it difficult to deploy large numbers of UAS to support a tactical mission without a large and expensive commitment of human resources to monitor and control each aircraft. In addition, continuous communications between the human operators and the air vehicles are required to respond dynamically to the changing battlespace. The continuous communication and delays in human responses may affect survivability in a hostile environment.
Based on this, manned vehicles, as well as unmanned vehicles, face a growing risk when operating at or near battlespace environments. What is needed is an architecture that addresses the problems of persistent operation in a denied battlespace.